The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1887-02-01
ST. KILDA.
A Curious Island orr the Scot
fish Coast.
A Place Where Sea Birds Form the
Support of the Inhabitants.

from the mainland. Near it are the
bird-infcsted isles of Sony and Boreray,
|sbut st. Kilda alone boasts human ten
ants. In 1881 the island contained
nineteen families, or sc~vcnty-sevcn per-
sons, thirty three males md forty-four
females. They live in a little green val
ley which slopes to the sea. The island
itself forms part of the ancient estate of
Dunvegan. Once upon a time the vii
lage of St. Kilda looked like a Hotten-
tot "kraal." The houses were huts
built of loose stones md turf, and filled
with an atmosphere of parental smoke.
Now things are better ordered. The
houses arc built of stone with roofs of
galvanized iron, an improvement due to
the generosity of Macleod of Macleod, the
hereditary possessor of the land. No
part of the world is more famous for it's
bird inhabitants than this desolate
oceanic patch. Here the solan geese
nestle in thousands. The fulmar, the
gannet gaillemots, puffins, elder ducks,
and other sea fowl exist in countless
swarms. These birds form, in fact,
the stay and support of the St. Kilda
folk. The islanders say that the fulmar,
or stormy petrol, gives them oil for burn
ing, down for their beds, wholesome
meat, and an ointment or salve for their
infirmities. There are no hens on St.
kilda. The sea birds supply the place
Of the domestic fowl completely, and
the housewives of the lonely isle IRE re-
licvcd by nature from the cares and
worries of bird-tcnding. The women
look like 'fcathercd Mercurics, for their
shoes" adds this writer, ''are made of
g%annet's skin" The feathers are
valued ut Is per stone GA
pounds) for the black putin
variety and at 5s for
grays. The fulmar oil sells ut Is a pint,
the cloth made by the inhabitants at IS
per Scotch ell, while the cattle are
specially rated. For eight or nine
months at a time st. Kilda may have no
intercourse with the utter world. Life
on the island wags slowly and peace
fully, if monotonously along. The storms
of the outside world affect not the St.
Kilda folk. The islanders are exempt
from consumptive troubles-a fact held
by some enthusiastic doctors to be due
to the atmosphere of peat smoke amid
which st. Kilda at large lives and
brcathes. But their babies arc liable to
be killed off by a mysterious ailment
about the eighth day of life, and the
people are said to be subject to q species
of influenza, which only appears when
strangers visit the isle. Nobody knows
how this ailment is conveyed or what it
is. No infection is presumed to be
carried from the visiting steamer to the
shore; but, nevertheless, the st. Kilda
folk begin to snuff, and to sneeze
whenever the tourist season sets in.
1t appears that the inhabit ants arc &C
customed to send messages inserted in
bottles, or in extemporized boats, to the
mainland. They commit their wishes
to the waves, and trust to favoring gales
to watt their desires ashore. A strata
gem of this kind was recently put in
force by the Free church minister who
has taken charge of the spiritual affairs
on the island. He sent q sea message
which, after some weeks or months of
wandering, contrived to be cast ashore
and to be brought under the notice of
some benevolent person, who forwarded
the message to its destination in Edin-
burgh. The reverend gentleman in this
communication to the principal of the
Free Church college in the Scottish
metropolis spoke of the disastrous
period through which his people and
himself had passed in st. Kilda. They
were out of everything, in fact, if the
message was to be believed, and were
anxiously awaiting help from the charity
and benevolence of the mainland. This
help was duly dispatched to them. The
Jackal, government vessel, was
sent to the island, aud an official OF the
board of supervision was deputied,
along with the surgeon of the ship, to
report upon the state of things in the
island. Thu information In question has
now come to hand. The reporter tells
us that he found from four to six hun
dred fulmars sailed and stored as provis-
ions in each family. AS a single fulmar
affords n full meal for al adult, it fol-
lows that from eight to twelve hundred
meat rations are contained in each house
in the island. Then follows a record of